In the 16th and 17th centuries, there were four Jesuit colleges in the Przemyśl diocese. Each of them had a living tradition of staging performances in the school theater. The origins of this tradition are difficult to determine. The oldest mention of a school theater concerns the College of St. John in Jarosław (around 1575). We know that similar theaters operated in Przemyśl, Krosno and Nowy Sambor. The theater played an important teaching role. By participating in performances, students prepared for public speaking, practiced rhetoric and Latin, and expanded their historical knowledge. Theater was also an element of their moral education. Rectors supervised school theaters, but their power was limited. The performances accompanied school, church, municipal and nationwide celebrations. They included dialogues, recitations, speeches, disputes, songs and plays. Jesuit theater was an amateur enterprise, and acting was always performed by students. The schedule of performances was largely determined by the church calendar. The plays were mostly written by local teaching staff, mainly Jesuits, mainly in Latin. This, of course, limited their audience, although the performances were usually eagerly attended by students' relatives, various specially invited guests, townspeople and even foreigners.